I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paint spray booth particularly suited for spray painting articles, such as motor vehicles.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The previously known paint spray booths of the type used to paint articles, such as motor vehicles, typically comprise an elongated housing having side walls and a horizontal floor which divides the housing into an upper chamber and a lower chamber. The articles are conveyed through the upper chamber of the paint spray booth by a conveyor system so that the articles are spaced from each other. The articles are spray painted as they are conveyed through the housing upper chamber.
These previously known paint spray booths further include a plurality of longitudinally spaced air scrubber units which are positioned at longitudinally spaced intervals along the floor. Typically these air scrubber units, which fluidly connect the upper and lower housing chambers together, are aligned with the bottom of the articles as they are conveyed through the housing upper chamber.
In operation, exhaust fans induct air laden with paint particles from the upper chamber, through the air scrubber unit and into the lower housing chamber. Simultaneously, water is introduced to the air scrubber unit so that the air and water become intermixed.
In doing so, the paint spray particles become entrapped within the water thus polluting the water but purifying the air. The purified air is then exhausted to the atmosphere while the polluted water is collected and conveyed to a sludge and/or water filtration system.
These previously known paint spray booths, however, suffer from a number of disadvantages. One disadvantage of these previously known devices is that the inlets for the air scrubber units are positioned directly underneath the vehicles as they are spray painted. Consequently, the paint particles entrained in the air are inducted underneath the vehicle and thus contact and accumulate on the conveyor system which transports the vehicles through the paint spray booth. Such accumulation of paint on the conveyor requires periodic maintenance and cleaning of the conveyor system.
A still further disadvantage of many of these previously known paint spray booths is that the floor through which the air scrubber units are open is vertically spaced upwardly from the bottom of the paint spray booth by relatively large distance, typically eight feet or more. Such wide vertical spacing of the floor from the bottom of the paint spray booth is necessary to enable the air scrubber to completely intermix the paint spray particles with the water in order to adequately purify the air prior to its exhaust to the atmosphere. This high vertical height of the floor greatly increases the overall cost of the paint spray booth as well as the installation cost for the paint spray booth.
A still further disadvantage of many of these previously known paint spray booths is that the operating efficiency of the air scrubber is preset and nonadjustable once the air scrubber unit is constructed. Consequently, once constructed, the air scrubber unit cannot be easily modified to change its operating efficiency as required for future applications.